Even though a jury condemned Scott Peterson to death yesterday, it could be years – even decades – before he’s executed.

That’s because California’s death row has grown to 650 men and women since the state restored capital punishment in 1978.

Only 10 executions have taken place since then, the last one in 2002.

Since the early ’90s, lethal injection has been the state’s only method of execution. But before Peterson gets the needle, his case will be automatically appealed.

State and federal courts will spend eons poring over the matter.

“I think it will be 15 to 20 years at least,” before the appeals are exhausted, said lawyer Cliff Gardner, a death penalty opponent.

Until his formal sentencing on Feb. 25, Peterson will remain in the Redwood City, Calif., jail, where he has been staying throughout his trial.

At the sentencing, Judge Alfred Delucchi will have the option of reducing the sentence to life behind bars, but this is highly unlikely.

If the sentence is upheld, Peterson will be taken to San Quentin State Prison.

The lockup is a hell on earth outside San Francisco where prisoners gaze out of small windows overlooking the bay where the body of Peterson’s wife, Laci, was found.

The prison houses the only death house in the Golden State.

Before Peterson is taken to a dank cell, he will undergo the intake ritual, which every person sentenced for a serious crime must undergo.

A full body cavity search will be conducted. He will be given a plain prison haircut and issued his official prisoner number. Also, as a convicted killer, he will have to hand over a DNA sample.

Then he will be assigned to a counselor and be given a complete psychological evaluation, a process that could take as long as 45 days.

Once correction officials feel he is ready, he will be taken to the section of San Quentin that holds inmates waiting be executed.

Those already on death row include infamous murderers such as “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez, a satanic serial killer, and Richard Allen Davis, the man who kidnapped and killed Polly Klaas.

Like most high- profile prisoners, Peterson is likely to be the target of violence.

To protect him, he may have to be kept separated from other prisoners and have limited access to perks like time in the recreation yard.

Ramirez and Davis, for example, are allowed to exercise only three times a week for fear someone will try to make a name for himself by attacking them.

The last person to be executed was small-time burglar Stephen Wayne Anderson, 48, who died on Jan. 29, 2002, after confessing to the murder of Elizabeth Lyman, an 81-year-old San Bernardino grandmother, during a botched 1980 robbery.